Smokey mischief

MOST will probably find Pineapple Express, the latest from the increasingly strained Judd Apatow school, very missable indeed.

Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express (MA15+) 2½ stars National release MOST will probably find Pineapple Express, the latest from the increasingly strained Judd Apatow school, very missable indeed.

This is a stoner comedy in which a great deal of time is taken up with supposedly funny conversations between Seth Rogen, as a grass-addicted process server, and James Franco, who is mildly amusing as his out-of-it supplier.

It's a film that revels in its political incorrectness: the 30-something hero has a girlfriend (Amber Heard) who's still at school and barely past the age of consent, and yet she's far more mature than he is. Not only that, but there's a scene in which potent pot is sold to eager schoolkids. Rogen wrote the screenplay, in collaboration with Evan Goldberg, and while he allows plenty of time for scenes of bad taste comedy similar to that in Knocked Up (where he played a similar slob), this time there's an added element: a plot involving criminal cops and evil drug runners that might have been borrowed from a Tarantino film.

Doubtless this confection will appeal to schoolboys, who will find it all terribly daring, but more mature audiences are likely to take a reality check. The director, David Gordon Green, previously made a number of distinguished independent films.

He hasn't enhanced his career with this venture into what is unfortunately the new Hollywood mainstream.